Sign in toNewYorkUpstate.com

Turnovers cost Syracuse basketball in loss to North Carolina State

Updated February 15, 2018 at 11:06 AM;Posted February 15, 2018 at 10:26 AM

North Carolina State guard Markell Johnson steals the ball from Syracuse forward Oshae Brissett during Wednesday's game at the Carrier Dome. It was one of 15 turnovers for the Orange.
(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- In a game that came down to a few final plays, the Syracuse Orange gave away 15 possessions in its 74-70 loss to North Carolina State on Wednesday night.

The 15 turnovers marked the second-highest total for Syracuse through 13 ACC games this season. The only game in which Syracuse committed more turnovers came in a double-overtime loss at Florida State when the Orange had 19 turnovers.

Syracuse committed 10 turnovers in the first half alone. Some were silly. Tyus Battle tried to go behind his back with the ball and dribbled it off his foot. Frank Howard committed two offensive fouls while being pressured by a defender. Bourama Sidibe walked twice in five minutes played. Every Syracuse player who got in the game committed at least one turnover except for 7-2 center Paschal Chukwu.

"I definitely think unforced errors, no question,'' Howard, SU's point guard who had six assists and four turnovers, said. "I think a couple of those push-offs, the one Tyus lost out of bounds, the travel, things like that, I don't think too many were forced. They did a great job of pressuring the ball every play, but I think those are mental mistakes.''

North Carolina State actually had more turnovers than Syracuse. The Wolfpack committed 19 turnovers. Syracuse turned those turnovers into 32 points.

But Syracuse is a team that can't afford turnovers. North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts said he wanted to speed up the game and force Syracuse to play at a pace it wasn't used to.

"I think the pace that we play at sometimes bothers teams,'' Keatts said. "We're an up-tempo team. A lot of teams we play against are not used to playing fast. I'm not saying that's Syracuse, but sometimes it affects the way other teams play. I thought they rushed a couple things. I thought they threw a couple uncharacteristic passes that they normally don't make.''

A statistical breakdown of Syracuse's ACC games shows how critical turnovers have been to the Orange's success or failure.

In Syracuse's six ACC wins, the Orange has 71 assists and 63 turnovers. That's an average game of 11.8 assists and 10.5 turnovers.

Syracuse had more assists than turnovers in five of those six wins. The only time Syracuse has beaten an ACC while having more turnovers than assists was a 68-56 win over Virginia Tech on Dec. 31. Syracuse had 10 assists and 15 turnovers in the win over the Hokies.

In Syracuse's seven ACC losses, the numbers are dramatically reversed.

In those seven games, the Orange has just 59 assists and a whopping 94 turnovers for an average of 8.4 assists and 13.4 turnovers per game.

The difference between 10.5 turnovers in a win compared to 13.4 in a loss may not sound like much, but Syracuse has played seven ACC games that were decided by six points or less or in overtime. Syracuse has lost five of those seven games.

In the three games prior to Wednesday night, it appeared that Syracuse had solved its turnover problem. The Orange committed eight or fewer against Virginia, Louisville and Wake Forest.

The Orange reverted back to its careless ways against N.C. State.

"It's been a problem,'' Howard said. "We know we can't afford that many.''